Madam x

2017 release, the long-awaited sophomore album from legendary Detroit hard rockers Madam X. Produced by Madam X at Metro 37 Studios in Rochester Hills, MI, and mixed by Michael Wagener (Megadeth, Metallica, Skid Row, Ozzy Osbourne), with additional mixing by Mark Slaughter, Monstrocity is a hard-hitting classic metal/rock record sure to serve as a proper return to form for Madam X, and a kick in the ass for fans old and new. Madam X formed in 1981 by sisters Roxy and Maxine Petrucci. The band split when Roxy went on to join Vixen. Fast forward to 2017, when the Petrucci sisters return as Madam X. The album features 12 hard-hitting slabs of rock, including the pummeling title track 'Monstrocity', 'Resurrection', 'Nitrous', and an updated version of their 1984 hit 'High In High School.'

"Madam Butterfly" is the 7th album by American soul/R&B group Tavares, produced by Bobby Martin and released in 1979 on the Capitol label. By this stage in the group's career, they had become known as a disco act due to successful singles such as "Heaven Must Be Missing an Angel", "Whodunit" and "More Than a Woman." However, Madam Butterfly is noted for its lack of anything approaching disco material, and, as such, is considered to be more akin in style to the group's 1973-'75 albums than to their '76-'78 Freddie Perren-produced output.

"Smokin'" is a Smokey Robinson live album released in 1978. Although it opens with "The Tracks of My Tears," Smokin' isn't an oldie revue heavy on hits with the Miracles. Instead, this double album is very much of its time, relying heavily on recent hits with everything, even the classic '60s sides, given a bit of a disco makeover. While these new arrangements hardly trump the originals, they make for a better overall experience: perhaps this isn't Smokey at his absolute peak, but it is a reflection of a legend working hard to build upon his legacy without living in the past.

This quote, which accompanies a vintage photograph of three African American women lifting their hands heavenward, is not only featured prominently in Put the Whole Armour On, a two-CD tribute to 1940s and 1950s female gospel artists, but it serves as an apt prelude to the collection. That is, notwithstanding the prominence of women in African American churches, most denominations did not allow women to become pastors. In response, some females became evangelists, saving souls through street corner oratory as well as gospel music. The 54 selections curated for this collection cover some of the most popular gospel singers of the golden era like Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Clara Ward, and Mahalia Jackson. Included is Jackson’s initial and unsuccessful but plaintively rendered Apollo Records release “I’m Going to Tell God.” The package also introduces lesser-known figures such as Madam Ernestin Martin, Mary Frazier, and Mari Brown, whose lilting voice delicately delivers “Did You Stop to Pray This Morning” with R&B pioneers the Johnny Moore Trio.